Olympus BX and BH stage holders

[microb]

Hi,
Comparing the designs of the BX and BH stage holders, what are the peg holes shown above the circular dovetail? They look like something was supposed to be centerably inserted there, or maybe they are just casting design aspects.

Also, does anyone have pictures of an Olympus pol stage holder/stage from teh underside. Olympus doesn't offer centering adjustments on the objective, so are there adjustments on the stage? It would be nice to see how they did that.

Thanks.

[PeteM]

My assumption is that the stage holders are aluminum die castings and that the square holes are just to keep the aluminum sections from warping. If you have a really thick section one place and thin elsewhere, warping is likely as they cool. The holes look to keep relatively thinner and more constant sections through that part of the stage.

Might also be that they're used in fixturing, to hold the castings in place for subsequent machining.

I'm not aware of any attachment that fits into these recesses.

[Tom Jones]

Olympus pol stages are centerable. They also offer centerable objective turrets for the BHT/BHS/BX-50, etc. scopes with removable turrets. Not the BHTU or BX-40 unless you have the rare, removable turret adapter, for the BX-40.

A pol scope where you couldn't center specimen rotation with the optical path wouldn't be particularly useful.

Tom